CME Group Averaged 19 Million Contracts Per Day In February 2019

CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, reached average daily volume (ADV) of 19 million contracts in February 2019. This is up 7 percent from January 2019, but down from a record 27.3 million contracts per day in February 2018. Open interest (OI) at the end of February was 126 million contracts, up 3 percent from January 2019, but down 3 percent from February 2018.

Agricultural volume averaged 1.7 million contracts per day in February 2019, down 13 percent from February 2018. Highlights include:

• Livestock electronic futures ADV increased 4 percent to 125,000 contracts
• Corn options ADV grew 32 percent to 100,000 contracts
• Lean Hog futures and options ADV rose 8 percent to 64,000 contracts
• Live Cattle futures ADV grew 6 percent to 60,000 contracts
• Wheat options ADV rose 23 percent to 45,000 contracts

Energy volume averaged 2.3 million contracts per day in February 2019, down 17 percent from February 2018. Highlights include:

• Record WTI Houston Crude Oil futures OI of 5,900 contracts on February 19 and record daily volume of 4,800 contracts on February 20

Metals volume averaged 525,000 contracts per day in February 2019, down 24 percent from February 2018. Highlights include: 

• Record Copper options OI of 57,000 contracts on February 22 and record daily volume of 12,500 contracts on February 20
• Platinum futures and options ADV increased 11 percent to 20,500 contracts
• Copper options ADV more than tripled to 3,700 contracts

Foreign Exchange volume averaged 762,000 contracts per day in February 2019, down 30 percent from February 2018. Highlights include:

• Record Offshore Chinese renminbi futures daily volume of 5,800 contracts on February 11

Interest Rate volume averaged 11 million contracts per day in February 2019, down 30 percent from February 2018. Highlights include:

• Record SOFR futures OI of 125,000 contracts and record daily volume of 61,200 contracts on February 28
• 2-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures ADV increased 6 percent to a record 1.1 million contracts, following the tick size reduction in January
• SOFR futures ADV increased 70 percent to a record 31,200 contracts, compared to last month
• SONIA futures ADV rose 40 percent to 8,600 contracts, compared to January 2019
• 5-Year U.S. Treasury Note Wednesday Weekly options ADV grew 16 percent to 6,000 contracts

Options volume averaged 3.5 million contracts per day in February 2019, down 42 percent from February 2018.

Equity Index volume averaged 2.7 million contracts per day in February 2019, down 45 percent from February 2018. Highlights include:

• S&P 500 Total Return Index futures and options ADV grew 83 percent year-over-year to 2,200 contracts

BrokerTec European Repo average daily notional value increased 1 percent to €270.5 billion.

Footnote: To see CME Group daily over-the-counter (OTC) notional cleared volumes and open interest, monthly OTC notional cleared volumes and monthly total trade count, go to http://www.cmegroup.com/education/cme-volume-oi-records.html